The Strangest Feeling
by faelins
Summary: prompt: I fell in love with you three lifetimes ago and I've been looking for you ever since but I'm starting to give up and my friend's new crush has your eyes and oh god I'm not going to steal someone's date just because I'm hoping you're the person I met in a past life. / or, Percy meets Annabeth, but not for the first time. (prev. titled Some Things Change & Some Things Don't.)


**This fic is a birthday gift for my friend Alex, co-written with Tehreem (IAin'tNoOrdinaryGirl) and edited by Elle. Originally posted on our Tumblr wewritepjo.**

 **Please note that this fic opens with implied one-sided Jasabeth. Don't let that put you off. It's 100% Percabeth.**

 **Dedicated to Al, obviously – happy (late) birthday, lovely!**

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 _ **prompt:** I fell in love with you three lifetimes ago and I've been looking for you ever since but I've been starting to give up and my friend's new crush has your eyes and oh god I'm not going to steal someone's date just because I'm hoping you're the person I met in a past life_

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 _Past lives couldn't ever hold me down; lost love is sweeter when it's finally found. I've got the strangest feeling: This isn't our first time around._

(BØRNS, _Past Lives_ )

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"So, have you met the new girl yet?"

I glance over at him. Jason is nonchalantly paging through his book while sipping his smoothie, lounging back against the lockers with a cool, collected _nothing's-up_ expression plastered across his face. _Uh-oh_. I've seen _that_ one before: eyebrows raised a fraction of an inch too high, the small, suspiciously casual smile resting on his lips. It means that there is most _definitely_ something up.

"Nope," I reply carefully. "Why? What's she like?"

Jason grins. "Really cool. Smart, too — she's in my advanced chemistry class, and in my honors history, and I know she takes Architecture & Engineering because I heard her talking to Piper McLean about it."

Well, that's nice for her — but all I'm hearing is that she and Jason have a ton of classes together and that he's curiously excited about it. New crush? Maybe. I cast him a sideways glance – he's still leafing through his book, still lazily working away at his smoothie, probably nibbling on the straw. Jason hasn't liked anybody since Reyna Ramírez-Arellano, but that fell through when he found out she only liked girls. It would be good for him, I think, if he went out with someone, even if she is as nerdy as he's describing this new girl to be. Maybe they can be the kind of couple who have study dates at Starbucks after school, who scribble math problems on heart-shaped sticky notes and tack them to each other's lockers. Nothing like a healthy dose of calculus from your girlfriend to start off your day.

Not that I can talk, of course. I don't have a girlfriend.

Jason's got a big heart, though. As I watch him, his eyes the color of a summer sky and his hair glinting golden in the sunlight, I doubt it'll take long for him to find somebody.

"Oh, and she takes Greek, like you. Weird, huh?" he adds suddenly, adjusting his glasses on the bridge of his nose.

He's not looking at me, but it only takes me a split second to figure out what he's thinking: no one takes Greek at this school except for extreme nerds. Extreme nerds, and _demigods_.

But she couldn't be. We would've noticed by now. With Jason, Piper, a scrawny Latino guy, that overly-buff Asian freshie, and me, this place is enough of a monster magnet already – not to mention that Jason and I are both Big Three kids, so we're extra-large blips on every monster radar within a five-mile radius. Adding another demigod into the mix…there'd be monsters rampaging the campus by now. There's no way this new girl is one of us.

So I shake the thought out of my head and offer a casual shrug. "Yeah, I guess." _She's probably just a giant nerd. Like you!_

(Jason actually doesn't take Greek, he takes Latin. Says it flows more easily in his brain or whatever. He's still a giant nerd, though.)

Which is why it doesn't surprise me when he slams his book shut and I catch a glimpse at the cover: it's his AP Lit textbook. Probably just some light, easy reading, in his opinion — what a nice way to spend lunch. But I don't linger on the thought, because he sucks in a breath and says, "That's her!"

My head snaps up and I follow his gaze to a pair of a girls in the far corner. Their backs are turned to us, but one of them I recognize anyway by her choppy chestnut locks: Piper. The other must be the New Girl. There's not much I can see from this angle: she's tall, at least, with a ramrod straight spine and long, fair curls gathered in a ponytail at the base of her neck. She's wearing shorts and a T-shirt and there's a book under her arm — the same as Jason's, judging by the colors. I'm not in any of those ultra-smart classes, because I'm dyslexic and it shows in my grades.

Jason tugs at my arm. "Let's say hi."

"Why? You're gonna see her in chemistry in like an hour — _oh_ , okay."

His eyebrows have jumped into his hairline and his glasses have slipped down the curve of his nose, providing him with the perfect opportunity to shoot me his deluxe _don't-argue_ glare over the rims. Hmm. Interesting.

I let him pull me up by my elbow, and we begin a nonchalant wander towards said duo. Jason's curiously eager, though, and we arrive at our destination in no time, where he immediately offers a cautious "Hi?" to the backs of the girls' heads. Piper turns and greets him with a blinding grin — chill, as usual — before tapping her friend's shoulder.

New Girl turns, and a strangled gasp flies from my lips.

I shouldn't recognize her. I've never seen her before in my life.

In _this_ life.

Memories, bright and blinding like supernovas, come flooding into my brain the second our eyes lock. Images flash in my vision like stills from a film, alien and strangely familiar at the same time: a jagged rock tearing through the surface of the sea, iron chains steaming in the sun, the thrill of flying, the gaping maw of a monster. A girl, with copper skin and a mane of dark hair that tangles in the ocean wind. Chained to the stone. It all twirls and twists in a whirl of color and it takes me several seconds to make sense of them because the roar in my ears is like a river and it's almost too much for me, and for a moment I'm sure I'm going to faint because _those eyes, those eyes_ , I _know_ those eyes, I looked into them every day for years and years but that's not _possible_ because I've never met her before and yet somehow—

She blinks, and for one blissful moment the spell is broken. She holds out her hand for me to shake and I take it, suddenly aware that my palms are slick with sweat. "Hi," she says. "My name's Annabeth Chase."

 _Annabeth_. The name reminds me of something. Annabeth…Andromeda.

My own name — Percy, short for...Perseus.

Chained to the stone.

 _Oh, gods._

I flash back to history class, sophomore year, to the dense and unbelievably dry book of Greek mythology open on my desk. To the illustration sprawling across the page, vivid with color, a stark contrast to the blocks of lifeless words beside it.

The sea. The rock. The monster. Flying. A girl.

And, inexplicably, resonating in my ears is the unmistakable clang of a blade cutting through metal, a sword slicing apart chains as though the iron were butter. I feel the heat of the sun against my skin, the spray of the ocean on my face. I remember the dark-haired girl, how she smelled like sweat and sea. My lips tingle and I remember kissing her. My heart beats in my throat and I remember her eyes.

Storm-gray, lambent in the sun. Like Annabeth's.

She stares me down with those same eyes, her hand still outstretched, raising her eyebrows. I clear my throat, trying to keep from passing out. "Percy," I manage. "Percy Jackson."

 _This is crazy. I am going insane._

"Nice to meet you." Oh, gods. Even her _voice_ is the same. She looks me up and down; her eyes are as hard and as piercing as I remember, but something in them shifts as she slides her gaze up to mine. It's near-imperceptible and it vanishes almost instantly, but by some miracle I catch it: recognition. Relief floods my veins. Maybe I'm not going crazy.

"You…you look like…have we met before?" I cringe at my sudden incapability to form a coherent sentence, but somehow I don't think she minds. Her eyes flick to Jason and Piper, who have in the meantime launched into animated conversation, and she says, softly, "Yeah, we have. Don't you think, _Perseus_?"

I can only nod. _She remembers_. "Demigod?" I ask, my voice low.

She nods. "Athena. You?"

"Poseidon."

Her fingers stiffen against mine, and it's only then that I realize I'm still holding her hand. Oh, right. The age-old Poseidon/Athena rivalry — we're not supposed to get along at all, much less have been _married_. I blink and study her face again, searching desperately for more memories; I can feel them in the hollows of my brain, writhing against time's constraints like birds in cages. This girl was my wife once. The thought startles me, and at the same time Jason pops into my mind; I hastily let her hand fall before he can see that I'm holding it.

Wisps of golden curls, sprung loose from her ponytail, tickle the side of her face, and she brushes them out of the way. Even this tiny gesture is familiar to me, somehow. "I thought we weren't supposed to remember," I mumble. My brain is such a colossal mess that this is the only thing I can think to say.

"We're not," she replies. "We're not even supposed to meet each other again." There's a short pause before she asks, "Is this your second or third life?"

"Third." I'm not sure how I know or why I'm so certain. I can't remember a single detail from my missing second life, except that I sure as hell didn't run into Annabeth there.

"Me too." She closes her eyes for a few seconds and sways lightly on her feet. "You know what that means, don't you?"

I do. This information, unlike the more recent type, comes straight from this life. "The Isles of the Blest. If we make it through this life without screwing up too badly, then…wow, we're in."

The shrill shriek of the school bell cuts through the conversation. Fourth period's about to start.

"I guess I'll see you there," I say, then hastily add, "Or around. Like, around school. I don't…please don't die right away, okay?"

She laughs. "Sure, Seaweed Brain. I won't."

 _Seaweed Brain_. Another crazily familiar tidbit from a past life, one that I shouldn't recognize but somehow do. It's teasing and affectionate and endearing and for some strange reason, I feel like she's been calling me that for centuries.

"By the way, I think my friend has a crush on you," I add before she can walk away. I jerk my head at Jason.

Annabeth barely glances over at him for a second before a small smirk creeps onto her lips. "No, I don't think he does."

I look, too, and there's Jason, staring at Piper with that one look on his face — like what she's saying is the most fascinating thing he's ever heard. Aww. It's been a while since I've seen that look on his face. I turn back to Annabeth, and somewhere I'm relieved; I'm not sure what I'd do if she was my best friend's new crush. Something about her makes my heart do relays in my chest, and I'm suddenly sure of one thing: I'm not letting her get away from me. Never again.

"See you around, Percy." She lowers her voice and winks. "Or, you know...in hell."

"I will, Wise Girl." The name springs to my lips without warning. "Don't die on me, yeah?"

"I'll try. But no promises."

"Then promise me something else."

She arcs one eyebrow and slants her head, stormy eyes sparkling. A sly smile plays at her lips. "What would that be, Perseus?"

"That you won't forget…any of it. Anything you remembered today." _Because now that I've found you, it'll hurt too much to lose you again_.

"Sure, Kelp Head." She laughs, and the sound is so wonderfully familiar that I'm momentarily awestruck. "That's something I can totally handle."

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 **Well, you made it through. Drop a quick review if you have the time – I (and Tehreem and Elle) appreciate it like you don't even know. Thanks in advance, ily guys :)**

 **~Mia**


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